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The California First
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salutes
WATCHOURCITY.COM
with its
2004
B EACON AWARD

See the L.A. Times
Report on
WatchOurCity.com

A new collection of original short
stories from the editor of
WatchOurCity.com that revives the Noir
Pulp Fiction genre, with a Latino twist,
based on real-life shenanigans at
small-time local city halls where the
public record is stranger than fiction.

The intrigue, the corruption, the
comedy, the incompetence and every
policeman's ultimate fantasy of sex in a
donut shop.

CUT ME IN is a series of riveting stories
of bumbling and deeply flawed
characters - mobsters, fringe players,
petty thieves turned politicians turned
petty thieves - with dark agendas who
betray their honor, and the public's
trust, on a dime's turn; at times
humorous and tragic; redemption is
always around the corner but flees
when tempted by small ambition; rare
moments of truth are discarded like
chump change, all played out over the
background both bleak and colorfully
gritty of a blue-collar immigrant town
in the shadows of the big city, a town
of second chancers, forgotten and
abused, but aching for a comeback...
tales with no moral lessons to uncover,
only everyday political dirty dealings
with the help of one lone hero,
Chucho* and his beloved low-rider.

Hasta Los Gatos Quieren Zapatos
Huffington Post.com
L.A. Eastside.com
L.A. Observed Blog
Latino Politics Blog
Politico
Think Progress
TPM Muckcracker

In The Public Interest .com

A gay
  Latino
   Mayor

with a lust

A convicted cop

for money,

and a hot

Republican
Latina

E nter Site

A courageously innovative, muckraking web site that focuses like a laser on the political, financial and legal shenanigans of the local government
California First Amendment Coalition

WatchOurCity

December 14, 2009
Election Follow-up
(Correction)
Councilman
Crespo
Wins in
Recount
The Editor,
WatchOurCity.com

Bell Gardens, CA - (correction) On
election night of November 3,
incumbent councilman Daniel Crespo
had (unofficially) lost to newcomer
candidate Luis Arias by all of 45
votes in a campaign with three open
seats. But after all provisional ballots
were counted and certified the
County on 11/20/09 Crespo beat
Arias by just 5 votes.

Luis Arias then filed for a recount,
with out of pocket costs totaling
$4,224 payable to the L.A. County
Registrar Recorder's office. The
recount was cancelled by Luis Arias
when it became evident he would
loose. Crespo maintained his council
seat by a 5 vote victory.

On election night, November 3,
Crespo had come in fourth, right
behind Luis Arias (3rd), Sergio
Infanzon (2nd) and Priscilla Flores
(1st).

A police report filed by Flores on
election eve accused Crespo of
hitting her with a campaign lawn
sign over the head. Crespo
responded that it was because
he caught Priscilla trespassing and
illegally pulling his signs from his
front lawns.

The campaign manager for
Flores, Infanzon and Arias was
the twice-convicted former councilman
Mario Beltran.

FOR MORE INFO:
PRISCILLA FLORES    1,438 - 20.13 %
SERGIO INFANZON     1,213 - 16.98%
DANIEL CRESPO        1,165 - 16.31%
LUIS A ARIAS           1,160 - 16.24%
CRISTINA GARCIA    1,051 - 14.71%
JAVIER SANCHEZ         936 - 13.1%
M C VIURQUIZ            181 -   2.53%

See also:
http://egpnews.com/?p=14507

Monday, December 14, 2009

Exhibit A

Exhibit B

City of Bell: The Lord Works in Mysterious Ways

December 14, 2009
City of Bell:
Mi Car License Plate es su Car License Plate:
Bell Councilman Luis Artiga
Caught with Illegally Swapped
Car License Plates

The Editor, WatchOurCity.com

Bell, CA - Luis Artiga, city of Bell's newest council member,
who's also the pastor at Bell Community Church, is caught
red-handed, illegally switching vehicle license plates. And
gets away with it after some not-so-divine intervention.

Councilman Artiga owns two cars: a late-model Toyota
Land Cruiser, "Exhibit A", and an older model sporty BMW
Roadster, "Exhibit B".

On Tuesday November 17, a city of Bell parking
enforcement officer was checking plates on the alley right
behind the Bell Community Church. The church property
includes a one-unit apartment which is adjacent to the
alley and is Pastor/Councilman Artiga's official domicile in
the city.

The Toyota SUV, Exhibit "A", is parked in an alley next to
the apartment unit; and the BMW, Exhibit "B", is parked
inside church property for safekeeping. Both vehicles are
registered in the city of Chino, where Mr. Artiga has his
real home.

A city employee's routine check of plates on Exhibit "A"
turned up that the plates belonged, not to a Toyota Land
Cruiser, but to a BMW Roadster.

The routine Standard Operation Procedure followed by
the parking enforcement officer called for towing the
vehicle with the suspect plates to a city tow yard.

So far so good as far as routines go.

What happened next, was anything but routine, with
perhaps some not-so-divine intervention to help out the
poor pastor in his time of need.

In the city of Bell, and in southeast L.A. County cities,
when me thinks "divine intervention", the instant
association is "George Cole". Pastor Artiga would agree
that in Bell, even the Good Lord is no match to Cole's
hand in making things happen around here.

You see, the good pastor was hand picked by George
Cole as his replacement when Cole abruptly quit his Bell
council seat back in October 2008 (see WatchOurCity.com
report dated Oct 8, 2008 "George Cole Abruptly Resigns
from Bell City Council).

When Mr. Artiga was up for reelection a few months later
in March 2009, Mr. Cole just happened to have lots of free
time on him and took a break from rigging multi-million
dollar contracts for his Ol d timers Foundation to manage
Mr. Artiga's reelection campaign, also relying on an Aide
de camp, Mario Beltran, the convicted former council
member from nearby Bell Gardens. Mr. Cole's strategy to
reelect Pastor Artiga was well documented by
WatchOurCity.com (see report from March 4, 2009,
"George Cole and his Gay Issue").

One typically hears about folks who switch vehicle license
plates in "America's Most Wanted" or on blogs such as
News of the Weird under the heading "Stupid Criminals",
or on the nightly news when gang members are caught
on narco runs.

But a pastor? A councilman? Naaahhhhh.

Switching vehicle license plates in California is a criminal
offense as noted in California's Vehicle code.

Any police officer can confirm that the old license plate
switch-a-roo is done mostly by someone on the lam from
the police or hiding from a parole office, or about to
commit a crime, or just committed a crime. It is also the
stupidest crime to commit since any police officer, or in
this case, parking enforcement, can easily check the
registration status.

Up to this point, all anyone knew of Artiga's situation
with his license plates issues was this:
- Artiga is a council member
- He is a Pastor
- George Cole appointed him to city council
- George Cole was his campaign manager
- Artiga switched car license plates
- Exhibit "A", Toyota SUV had license plates from a BMW
- Exhibit "B", BMW had license plates missing
- Artiga was knowingly driving a car with switched plates
- Exhibit "A" was towed on November 17
- Councilman Artiga pays past due car registration
- On November 19, Artiga drives Exhibit "A" back home
- Exhibit "B" continues parked inside church property
- Exhibit "B" still has license plates missing

Mr. Artiga is allowed to clear up the "misunderstanding".
Evidently, he didn't have enough money and or time to
stop by the local DMV office to renew registration on his
SUV, and thought no one would catch him, not especially
since he was a councilman, and a Pastor. More
importantly, George Cole had Artiga's back covered with
city staff and the Police Department. No questions asked.

That must be the kind of divine intervention Mr. Artiga
refers to in his Sunday sermons.

In this community, George Cole has more pull than the
Lord himself.

December 14, 2009
District Attorney Action
Former
Councilman
Calderon
Regrets
Quitting Council
Seat
Quits city council seat after DA
sued him; lied about reason for
quiting; then asks for seat back

L.A. Times, Dec. 12, 2009,
by Ruben Vives, Times Staff
Maywood City Councilman Sergio
Calderon, who resigned his seat
last month only to ask for it back
days later, was admonished by
his council colleagues for failing
to be honest with them about
his reasons for initially stepping
down.

The council rejected his request
to reclaim his seat.

Calderon had initially said he
was resigning because of a
council dispute over Maywood's
police contract with the city of
Cudahy. Maywood provides
police services to Cudahy, but
the contract is set to expire in
two years. But at a special
council meeting last week, a
copy of a complaint brought by
residents revealed that Calderon
had seemingly stepped down in
an effort to avoid a
conflict-of-interest lawsuit filed
by the Los Angeles County
district attorney's office.

Meeting last week, Calderon's
former colleagues expressed
exasperation with what they
saw as his behind-the-scenes
maneuverings. "Shame on him,"
said Mayor Veronica Guardado.

A complaint was filed with the
district attorney's office in
January 2007, stating that
Calderon was improperly serving
both on Maywood's council and
as a board member of the Water
Replenishment District of
Southern California.

Calderon, according to the
district's website, oversees a
division that includes southeast
L.A. County cities such as
Maywood. "There is a possibility
of a significant clash of duties or
loyalties between them, based
on the powers and jurisdictions
of each office," the complaint
read.

But at the special meeting,
Calderon said there is no conflict
because water agencies stand
as the middleman between the
district and the city.

"Our position is, if you raise
rates as a [water board
member] that get passed down
to municipal water companies
and they're going to have to
raise their rates, you as a
customer, as a city, will have to
pay higher rates. You can't be
both the customer and the
seller," said David Demerjian of
the district attorney's office.

Calderon announced his
resignation Nov. 24, a week
before his first term as
councilman was to expire and a
few days before his trial was set
to begin. Calderon had already
won reelection to the council
earlier in the month.

At a Nov. 30 court hearing,
Calderon's attorney, Albert
Robles, asked that the case be
dismissed because Calderon was
no longer serving as a
councilman. But prosecutors
countered that Calderon would
probably attempt to reclaim his
seat because he had been
reelected to a second council
term, and the swearing-in
ceremony had not yet taken
place. The case was continued.

Last week, at the special council
meeting where officials were
sworn into office, Calderon
showed up and asked for his
seat back. "The people of
Maywood made it very clear in
this last election that they want
me to serve," Calderon told the
council.

But he was rebuffed by council
members and skewered by
residents.

"You don't do this stuff,"
Guardado said. "You don't use
Maywood."

Councilman Felipe Aguirre
agreed. "He was playing a poker
game, and we as the council
called his bluff."

ruben.vives@latimes.com

December 14, 2009
District Attorney Action
Electoral Fraud
Alleged in
Maywood
Elections
Witnesses say people voted
twice, other voters did not
live in Maywood.

Same thing happened in
Huntington Park (see
WatchOurCity report).

The convicted Mario Beltran
was the campaign manager
for winning candidates in
both Maywood and
Huntington Park elections.

L.A. Times, Dec. 1, 2009,
by Ruben Vives, Times Staff
Community activists from
Maywood plan to file a
complaint with the L.A.
County district attorney’s
office today, seeking an
investigation into voting
discrepancies during last
month’s city elections.

Members of the group,
Maywood for Better
Community, said some
residents were unable to
vote in the Nov. 3 election
because someone had
already voted for them. The
group also alleges that some
voters lived in other cities,
such as Southgate and El
Monte, and that other
Maywood residents were
allowed to vote more than
once.

The allegations are centered
on several candidates who
ran for seats on the City
Council. Members plan to
hold a news conference at
11 a.m. in downtown L.A. to
announce the filing.

“We are certain they
committed voter fraud,” said
Ramon Medina, a member of
the group. “We have people
who saw it.”

The group said it has video
footage, photographs and
signed affidavits by several
witnesses. Marlene Mortley,
42, who served as a poll
watcher, said she observed
at least two people vote
twice.

She said volunteers for one
candidate campaigned less
than 100 feet away from the
polling place. Mortley she
attempted to inform polling
officials about what she had
seen but was yelled at and
turned away.

“It was hell,” Mortley said,
adding it was her first time
serving as a poll watcher. “I
wouldn’t do that again, not
with that kind of corruption,
nope.”

-- Ruben Vives

Maywood

Bell
councilman
and Pastor
Luis Artiga.

Bell Gardens

Pastor Artiga promoting his
Bell Community Church.

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